Robert Horry was highly impressed with young Manu Ginobili

Robert Horry has a mixed relationship with Spurs fans. He played a significant role in their 2005 and 2007 championships — most notably with a huge 4th quarter and OT performance in Game 5 of the 2005 NBA Finals against the Pistons — but he can also be a wildcard when it comes to what direction he’ll take when discussing one of his three former championship teams. In one interview he’ll praise the Spurs, and in the next he’ll draw fans’ ire for bizzare comments such as claiming Rudy Tomjanovich was better coach than Gregg Popovich, or blurting out that Hakeem Olajuwan was “20 times better” than Tim Duncan in a conversation that wasn’t even about Big Fun.

In that same interview, he also claimed that Spurs would have won 10 championships “if Manu Ginobili would have did the things he was supposed to do,” whatever that was supposed to mean. However, this time he has something nice to say about everyone’s favorite Argentinean. In an appearance on the podcast Knuckleheads with Quintin Richardson & Darius Miles where they walk through basically his entire basketball career, he discussed how rookie Manu impressed him when he was still with the Lakers:

“Manu killed us. He was going at Kobe (Bryant), he wasn’t afraid of Kobe. He (Manu) was left handed and could get to the hole, shoot floaters, trying to dunk on people. He was a beast.”

But he was even more impressed once he joined the Spurs the next season and realized how truly special Manu was.

“When I got to the Spurs and got to watch him every day I saw how good he was. There wasn’t a shot he wouldn’t take, or a move he wouldn’t try because he had the confidence, no fear, and the ability to to make whatever shot he wanted.”

In the same interview, he also had nicer things to say about Pop in a story we’ve heard before, comparing Pop’s more compassionate nature to Phil Jackson’s business-only approach, and he retold the story of how Pop sent him home from training camp to be with his hospitalized daughter.

“Phil wouldn’t really talk to you. [He] would just come and talk to you [about] basketball — [say] read my book that I gave to you for a Christmas present.”

“Pop would come and talk to you, take you to dinner, buy you a glass of wine. Pop would really try to get to know you.”

“I remember when my daughter got sick and we were doing training camp, I left and went home and then I came back. He was like, ‘What are you doing here? Is she out of the hospital?’ I was like ‘no.’ [He said] get out of here. I don’t want to see your face until she’s home and she’s 100%. I’m like, ‘what?’ He sent me back home.”

You can click here or listen to the entire podcast below. Sometimes it benefits to tune Big Shot Bob out, but at least on this occasion he’s worth the listen.